Choices for a Fated Destiny

Chapter 9

~◇~

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." - Yoko Ono

Pay close attention to the people who share your world with you. You'll find that some face their reality daily, while some of them live in a dream world, and then you might find others, those who turn one into the other.
~◇~

It's early morning. High above in the sky, beyond where the limited capabilities of the human eye can see, there's a rippling in the surface of the heaven. A small circle is forming. The twinkling of light within the circle is nearly invisible against the brightness of the morning sun.

The bright silvery-white cluster of tiny stars suddenly transforms into a myriad of sparkling rainbow-colored dots that start vibrating faster and faster. As the colors start to combine, they take on a form, a shape that seems to instantly explode into existence. There's a quick but bright flash, then in the blink of an eye, everything returns to normal, as if there'd been no disturbance in the picturesque view of the morning skies.

Out of nowhere, a beautiful raven is soaring effortlessly and quietly through the sky. Turning its head, it looks down, one eye focusing on something far below it. In the next instant, it dives down and starts gliding high above the rooftops.

The raven slows down as it nears the first cluster of houses. There's a quick flash of bright light when the morning sun reflects off its beautiful glossy black wings as it suddenly changes direction. It starts circling a few rooftops before once again flying lower and slower, eventually landing on the branch of a familiar tree. It glances around, almost casually observing its surroundings before studying the house.

A few minutes later, it flies up and around the house, settling on a windowsill at the back of the house. After softly uttering some strange sounds, yellow and brown sparkles suddenly appear in front of its face. It circles in a spiral, then slowly starts disappearing into the house.

But this time, the raven is interrupted. Its head suddenly jerks around, and a soft rumbling noise starts reverberating from its throat, yet no loud noise escapes its beak. The raven starts looking around, its head now turning with quick and nervous jerking movements.

Suddenly leaping away, it spreads its wings and takes to the air. Quickly flying up to the top of a tall tree, it crawls under a dense, shadowed cluster of leaves, effectively hiding itself, completely out of view.

Meanwhile...

Carolaine opens her eyes, instantly wide awake. Momentarily blinded by the brilliant golden rays of the rising sun, she blinks rapidly and groans.

With a frown, she buries her head in the pillow and moans, "Not funny, Pais, close those damn curtains. Ple-ee-ase."

Her complaint is met with silence. She lifts her head and peers around, one eye shut tight, peeking around through the other barely-opened eye.

"Pais?"

She's alone in her room. Covering her tired eyes with her arm, her head falls back onto the pillow with another groan.

All of a sudden, her foggy mind is flooded with images and sounds of her dreams. Now wide awake, she jumps up and runs to Paisley's room.

"Pais!"

"Huh? Wha... g... way... ti... d... slee..."

Paisley turns her head away, and the rest of her nonsensical mutterings are mumbled into her pillow.

Carolaine Collins

Wait... Don't tell me I- Am I still dreaming?